


just peachy!!

by embraidery



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Costume Parties & Masquerades, F/F, onesided Beau/Yasha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22027852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embraidery/pseuds/embraidery
Summary: Beau goes to a masquerade ball to do some reconnaissance on her new target, Yasha Nydoorin. Unfortunately, the evening (and that pesky Mollymauk Tealeaf) have a few curveballs up their sleeves.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	just peachy!!

**Author's Note:**

> Do I have anything to say for myself? Nope, not really!

Her mark -- Nydoorin -- had long dark hair prematurely threaded with grey. It was twisted up into an elaborate braided style, which seemed to be as much a part of her costume as her white dress and swan mask: her posture indicated she would rather wear something comfortable. Occasionally someone approached her in her lonely corner and tried to engage her in conversation, but they invariably drifted away after a few sentences. 

Beau chided herself for thinking that Nydoorin didn’t look like a criminal. It was rare that Beau was hired to kill the ones who looked like Hollywood criminals. Still. Beau had asked the client what Nydoorin had done, as she did with all her targets, but the client merely said it was a matter of family honour or some such bullshit. Beau had a family, alright, though not the one she’d grown up with. But honour was such a slippery concept that she’d given up on it years before.

Beau wouldn’t normally come so close to a mark without intending to kill them on the spot, but the masquerade theme of this gala made it easy for Beau to conduct her surveillance without being spotted. She’d been tempted to wear her signature colours as a bluebird, maybe, or a peacock. But she was here for work, not pleasure, which meant toning it down. She eventually settled on cat ears and a mask, safe in the certainty she would not be the only cat at the gala.

There was one person that seemed to enjoy speaking with Nydoorin: Mollymauk Tealeaf, one of Rexxentrum’s best-known hedonists. He was easy enough to identify, even in costume, with his purple skin and vibrant tattoos. He made long circuits of the room, eating canapes and laughing with the city’s richest and most famous. Occasionally he’d circle back to Nydoorin. He seemed to encourage her to join the party with expansive gestures. Beau took a pen out of the inner pocket of her black suit and scribbled the letters  _ MT  _ onto her inner wrist. She wanted to investigate Tealeaf and his connection to Nydoorin when she got back to her room at the inn. Her initial research had revealed that they knew each other, though not how they had met or how they felt about each other. 

Beau made her way down the staircase to the main floor. She accepted a champagne flute from a waiter and weaved her way between laughing partygoers. Parties weren’t her favourite scene, and she felt ill at ease as she selected a random group of people and waited for a good moment to insert herself into the conversation. She was saved by the host, who tapped a fork against a crystal glass and cleared their throat.

“Welcome, welcome, one and all! We are so glad to see you all here tonight. As you know, we have many festivities planned, and the first one is a dance! Please find your partners and we will begin the  _ valss _ .” 

Beau looked around the room before setting her drink on a side table. She heard Tealeaf’s gentle accent over the sounds of the band tuning their instruments.

“It’s just one dance. I think it’ll be fun! I’ll even ask someone for you.” Tealeaf moved towards Beau, towing Nydoorin by the hand. “Would you like to dance?” he asked.

_ Shit.  _ Beau subtly wiped her hands on her suit trousers. “Yes, I would!” She managed to smile at Nydoorin, who didn’t react. Did her mask conceal enough of her face to get away with this? It didn’t matter, because she wasn’t going to turn this woman down for what would look like no reason. 

“Do you lead or follow?” Nydoorin asked softly.

“Uh, both,” Beau said, clearing her throat. “I usually lead, but I don’t mind. Following. Either one.”

“Then would you like to follow?”

“Okay.” 

Nydoorin led Beau to a place in the growing circle. As a follow, Beau had her back to most of the room, which she didn’t like. She had to tamp down on her instinct to glance over her shoulder. 

“I’m Yasha.”

“Traci.” 

The other woman’s much larger hands enveloped Beau’s, warm and calloused. They stood still for just a second before the music began and the dancers followed. 

The dance began relatively slowly, with Nydoorin pulling Beau into her arms and promenading her around the dance circle. Beau could feel the warmth seeping from Nydoorin’s body and had to resist cuddling in closer. As the music increased in tempo, the dancers all around them began to twirl, full skirts swirling out around them. Nydoorin spun Beau out in an elaborate turn before letting her go. Beau joined the line of dancers moving from partner to partner, pressing their palms together and twirling before moving on to the next. Tealeaf was only a few people away from them. Beau met his eyes and smiled briefly. His hands were surprisingly warm, almost shockingly so, and she was glad to move onto the next dancer. She made her way back around the circle to Nydoorin. The music began to slow again, and so did Beau and Nydoorin. Beau looked up, up, up at Nydoorin’s face far above her. The swan mask covered her eyes but did little to disguise her look of unease. 

“Are you alright?” Beau asked. 

“Yes. I am fine. I do not dance much,” Nydoorin replied, adjusting her gentle but secure grip on Beau’s hand and waist. “Is this okay?”

“Yes.” Beau smiled a little. As awkward as it had been at first, she was enjoying the dance. Nydoorin was comfortably solid, encircling Beau with strong arms, and she smelled like honey and flowers. Beau even closed her eyes as she let herself be swirled around the dance floor.

The dance was over all too soon.

Nydoorin released Beau and swept into an elegant bow. “Thank you,” she said.

“No, thank you,” Beau said. She took Nydoorin’s hand and squeezed it briefly before turning to disappear into the crowd. She hadn’t meant to do that and cursed herself for the slip. She would still have to do her job. At least she had some valuable practical information now: she had a sense that it would take an extremely large dose of poison to take this woman down, and Beau would have to think carefully before taking her on in hand-to-hand combat.

Head down, Beau wasn’t aware of her surroundings. She crashed headlong into Tealeaf. 

“Oh, hello!” he said pleasantly, smiling at her. “I trust you enjoyed your dance. Would you give me the honour of dancing with you, too?”

Beau faked a smile in return. “Sure.” She accepted his outstretched hand and followed him to the edge of the circle. 

“I believe I heard you say that you both lead and follow. Which would you prefer?”

Beau reflexively tilted her head in surprise at a man offering to follow. Which would she prefer? She didn’t know. She liked both, to tell the truth, and it depended on her dancing partner. In this case, she supposed she should let Tealeaf think that he was in control. She didn’t particularly want to stand out in such a precarious situation. 

“I’ll follow.”

“Wonderful.” Tealeaf smiled at her as he put one hand on her waist and clasped her hand with the other. His hands were still very warm, but at least they were dry. Beau settled her shoulders and prepared to dance. 

“So, I saw the way you looked at Yasha,” he said lightly, as he began to walk Beau around the circle.

Already on edge, Beau’s mind began to tip over into panic. “Wh-what? I wasn’t looking at her in a way. Any way. I was being normal.” Damn! This was why she never did stuff like this! Her job usually kept her in the shadows and  _ out  _ of any social situations.

Tealeaf chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.” He twirled Beau. It looked like he was about to say something more, but it was time for all the dancers to begin moving from partner to partner, so Beau had what felt like a long, long time to worry. How on earth had he figured out her secret? Could she still carry out the job? Tealeaf was sure to have many connections in the city. He was just about on the bottom of the list of people Beau wanted to know about her job. 

By the time she made it back around the circle to Tealeaf, Beau had her game face on. Tealeaf’s arms encircled her once again and they began to twirl.

“If you hurt Yasha,” Tealeaf said pleasantly, but with an undercurrent of steel, “I  _ will _ find you, and I  _ will  _ kill you.” 

Beau’s game face instantly shattered. So much for that. She couldn’t even string together a sentence in response.

“I do wish you luck, though,” Tealeaf continued, leading Beau into another turn. “It’s been a long time for her, but I think she may be open to the possibility.”

Beau frowned. Something was starting to feel  _ off _ about this conversation. “It’s been a long time since what?”

“Since she was in love, of course. We have something rather special, but it’s not quite the same.”

Beau sputtered. “Wh--I’m not--what?”

Tealeaf laughed. “You’re blushing. It’s very cute.”

At least it was better than Tealeaf knowing the truth, Beau thought. She melted into her Traci persona. “Oh, you got me! She--Yasha--she’s so beautiful. And strong.”

“That she is,” Tealeaf agreed, looking off into the distance over Beau’s shoulder. “That she is.” 

Luckily for Beau, that was just as the song came to an end. She smiled tightly and let Tealeaf brush a kiss over the back of her hand before she disappeared into the crowd quicker than you can say ‘assassin reconnaissance gone wrong.’ (She didn’t disappear too quickly, since she didn’t want to arouse suspicion.) 

Beau stopped a waiter just before she left and snagged a glass of champagne off their tray, hoping it didn’t look like she was running pell-mell to get herself out of the situation she’d stumbled into. She gulped the champagne too quickly, in time with her racing heart, and choked on the bubbles.

Doubled over, coughing the bubbles out of her trachea, Beau felt a reassuring hand rub her back.

“Are you okay?” Nydoorin asked softly, continuing to apply gentle pressure to Beau’s back.

“Yep, fine, just fine,” Beau mumbled, “yep, just. Great. Just peachy. Thanks.” She straightened up and ran her fingers through her hair. 

It was hard to tell under the mask, but it looked like Nydoorin was frowning. “If you are sure,” she said. “It was nice to meet you.” She raised her hand partway to her waist, as though planning to touch Beau’s arm or shake her hand, but she just bit her lip and put her hand back down.

“It was nice to meet you too,” Beau fumbled. “Thanks. For, you know.”

“For--for the dance, or…?”

Beau wished she could strangle herself with her cat tail. “Well, yeah. But also, you know, not letting me choke.”

“Right. You are welcome,” Nydoorin said. “Maybe I will see you around.”

“Right. Goodbye...Yasha.” Beau stuck out her hand, and they shook on it.

“Goodnight, Traci.”

With that, Beau made her way out the door. She took a deep, calming breath of night air and began the long walk back to her inn.

Well, if that night hadn’t just upset the apple cart, taken the biscuit, and thrown a monkey wrench in the works.

Damn.


End file.
